


Papa

by spockside



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Daddy Issues, Friendship, Gen, Heartbreak, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-28
Updated: 2012-06-28
Packaged: 2017-11-08 19:03:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/446466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spockside/pseuds/spockside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were dozens, hundreds of funny scenes from television, film, and literature, where a woman tells a man she's pregnant (and sometimes it's a man telling a woman he is). They're only funny when you're not the one living it.</p><p>Pepper's pregnant, and Tony is not taking it well. At all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Papa

**Author's Note:**

> For an avengerkink prompt: "Pepper discovers she's pregnant and Tony, predictably, doesn't take it well (by which I mean he freaks out, has an existential meltdown, etc). I'd love if Bruce were involved somehow (either Bruce/Tony or just Science Bros/BFFs). ALSO I'm not a huge fan of happy endings, so I'm totally fine if Tony does not actually come to terms with this and deal with it. And I also am not actually interested in Pepper HAVING a baby (just about Tony's reaction), so...however you want to deal with that, go right ahead!"
> 
> I got teary eyed while this spilled from my keyboard. Just a heads up.

"You're what?!"  
  
"You heard me."  
  
There were dozens, hundreds of funny scenes from television, film, and literature, where a woman tells a man she's pregnant (and sometimes it's a man telling someone). They're only funny when you're not the one living it.  
  
"How the hell could this happen?"  
  
Pepper stares across the kitchen table at Tony, who doesn't look pleasantly surprised, elated, or scared and happy (all of which she's experienced since she confirmed the news). No. His expression is one of stunned denial.  
  
"You're the genius," she snaps back, uncharacteristically trite. "Go look up the statistics on failure rates of various birth control methods. It happens. It has happened. To me, to us. We're going to be parents, Tony."  
  
He shoves his chair back and stands, staring at her belly and tugging distractedly on his hair.  
  
"I'm not ready to be a parent, Pepper. I don't know if I'll ever be ready. How pregnant are you?"  
  
"About four weeks," she says. She's already prepared herself for his next statement, but it still hurts when he makes it.  
  
"So you could have an abortion at this point, fairly easily, few complications."  
  
"I could," she replies calmly. "It's an option."  
  
He comes around the table, takes her hand as he stands looking down at her.  
  
"It's your choice, of course," he says, unconvincingly. "What other options are there?"  
  
"Tony," she says, standing up to face him. "Why are we discussing options? We love each other. We're financially stable, we're both grownups, we have family and friends to help us."  
  
"That's not enough."  
  
"Not enough, for what?" She's confused; what is his problem, exactly?  
  
"That's just logistics." He drops her hands and paces away from her, toward the stairs to the workshop. "Practically speaking, sure, we could *afford* it," he goes on, making air quotes. "I just don't think it's a good idea."  
  
"What, having a baby together? Being a family? Why not?"  
  
Tony sighs.  
  
"I don't know how to be a family, Pepper," he says, almost pleading. "I'm not daddy material. I'd let the kid down from day one. You'd be a terrific mom, but again, that's not enough."  
  
"Maybe not for you..."  
  
He interrupts her by shaking his head and abruptly vanishing downstairs.  
  
*  
  
Pepper examines her options and her motives, over and over, comes to the same conclusion every time. She and Tony are sweet to each other, but there's a sad undercurrent to their conversations and actions, as though they can both see what's coming.  
  
Two weeks after she breaks the news to Tony, ten days after their last discussion about it, she sits in the living area, hands folded in her lap, as if waiting for a doctor's appointment. Tony comes in, taking off his tie and tossing his jacket on the couch, then dropping down to sit beside her, taking her hand.  
  
"How are you doing, Potts?" he says, trying to sound solicitous. It comes out in a tone that's more fearful than she's ever heard him.  
  
"I'm all right," she says. Not looking at his face, she adds, "I'm moving out."  
  
"Okay," he says, still anxious. "You need space, I can give you space. Just tell me what you need, Pepper. You know I'd do anything for you."  
  
She stands up suddenly, looks directly at him now.  
  
"Would you? Would you, really, Tony?"  
  
It's then that he sees the red-rimmed eyes and the muscles clenching in her hands and face, and he has an awful foreboding as to what she really needs, what she really means.  
  
"Pepper, I - I would. Anything. Just ask."  
  
She shakes her head and says, "I shouldn't have to ask, Tony. I love you. Goodbye."  
  
He springs to his feet, dumbfounded, but he's frozen too long and she sweeps out of the front door without another word or look.  
  
*  
  
Tony should have known what he was up against. Pepper leaves nothing undone: she quits Stark Industries and becomes head of a newly founded charitable organization which she set up with her considerable earnings and investments. She moves to New York City. He knows her address but can't find a phone number or email for her, except the business contact information for the charity. He refuses to resort to using those, like a jilted teenager, but he follows news of the organization and its founder.  
  
He's so busy getting back to running his company that he even begs off several Avengers calls to action, only showing up when it seems necessary and never setting foot in SHIELD HQ in New York. Stark Tower runs itself; there are many new tenants now that so many businesses were destroyed in the Battle of Manhattan.  
  
Pepper appears at a few functions to promote her organization, and Tony can see her pregnancy progressing. His heart breaks when he hears her say that she'd rather not name the father, that he isn't part of her future, no more questions, please.  
  
In his darkest moments, he looks for some legal way to obtain a paternity test, custody, some say in what happens to the baby, then realizes that he doesn't actually want custody, just acknowledgment. When he realizes how pitifully selfish that is, he shuts himself in the workshop and drinks, hoping he can poison himself.  
  
That never works. He gets up eventually and grimly pursues his missions as Iron Man and CEO Tony Stark, genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. To that end, he donates a lot of money to Pepper's charity under cover of another name, knowing that she'll probably figure out anyway where it came from. Not being an idiot, she doesn't turn it down. But she doesn't acknowledge it, either; a note comes from her secretary.  
  
No one at SHIELD asks about her. Either they're afraid to, or she has already told them what she's willing to reveal. Everyone acts as though she and Tony broke up, irreconciliable differences, oh well.  
  
*  
  
Tony's been counting the weeks, so it's no surprise when he's perusing newspaper announcements and public records (and hospital admissions, illegally) and finds what he's been looking for: a birth announcement.  
  
"To Ms. Virginia Potts, a boy, 21 inches, seven pounds, born at --- Hospital at 3:50 A.M. on May 14, 2013. Ms. Potts is the head of the Children of Asia organization, founded to assist children and families living in poverty in Asian countries. No name has been given yet for her son."  
  
Her son. His son. Their son. For the first time since Afghanistan, Tony cries.  
  
*  
  
David James Potts makes an appearance (with his mother) on the charity's website, briefly, along with previously published information about his birth. He's two months old and has dark eyes and a shock of brown hair.  
  
Tony stares at the page for a long time. He still wonders how he would have done things differently. It's the most painful and confusing situation he's ever faced, and he's aware that he probably screwed it up beyond repair.  
  
He has JARVIS save the picture, somewhere on the master drive, under a generic filename, so Tony won't be tempted to hunt it down and spend all his time staring and speculating. The information is taken down from the website a week later.  
  
*  
  
He's reorganized Stark Industries to the point where they can function without his physical presence most of the time. He finally brings himself to re-establish residence in Manhattan, dividing his time between the Tower and his townhouse, throwing himself into SHIELD research and activities.   
  
One day, Bruce Banner comes into the common living area (he, Clint, and Natasha live in the Tower) and announces that he's leaving New York.  
  
"I'll come back if you need me," he tells them. "Wouldn't want any bad guys thinking I'm gone for good."  
  
"Where are you going?" Tony asks. This is the first he's heard about it and he's mildly put out at losing his lab buddy.  
  
"Back to Kolkata," says Bruce. "Back to the slums. This time I'm going as an emissary, not a doctor."  
  
It turns out he's going to set up an Indian branch of an organization that recruits medical personnel to provide free services to the poor. Tony feels a weight on his chest, and when the others leave the room, he asks Bruce, "What's the name of the organization?"  
  
His friend tells him. Of course, Tony's instincts are correct: it's Pepper's charity.  
  
"Sounds like a great opportunity," he says, hollowly. "Can't spend the rest of your life cooped up in the Tower, huh?"  
  
Bruce looks at Tony with his steady, calm eyes.  
  
"Guess not," he says at last. "I'm going to miss you, Tony."  
  
*  
  
Weeks go by; Bruce wraps up the research he's been working on and hands it over to another team of scientists. He and Tony have a few drinks.  
  
On the last day Bruce is scheduled to come in, Tony's in his workshop, just finishing a bit of redesign on the latest repulsor units. JARVIS announces that he has a visitor and Tony looks up and sees Bruce through the glass door, waves him in, turning away to save the work he's just done.  
  
When he turns, he sees that he has two visitors. Bruce is holding a little boy, with a crop of curly brown hair and round brown eyes. His fist is jammed into his mouth and he's clutching Bruce's shirt with the other hand and staring at Tony.  
  
"Who's this?" Tony asks, but he knows. What he doesn't know is why Bruce is here with Pepper's son.  
  
"David Potts," says Bruce. "Davy, this is Tony Stark, Iron Man."  
  
David goes on staring. Tony smiles his best "I'm not that scary" smile and sidles a little closer.  
  
"How old is he now?" he asks. He knows that, too, but it's a polite, harmless enough inquiry.  
  
"Fourteen months," Bruce replies. He's looking at the child, not at Tony. Damn his poker face.  
  
Tony reaches out to pat the boy, who hides his face in Bruce's shoulder. Tony gives Bruce a mock-injured look, and Bruce finally meets his eyes and smiles.  
  
"They're shy at this age," he says.   
  
"So what brings you guys to my lair?" Tony asks, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I hate long goodbyes. You know that."  
  
"Yeah, me too," says Bruce. "But Pepper wanted you to meet David at least once before we go."  
  
It's been long enough that Tony can speak of her more or less naturally. It's the familiar tone in Bruce's voice that makes his heart quicken apprehensively.  
  
"We?" he says. "You're taking *him* to India? What about - what about Pepper?"  
  
"We're all going," Bruce tells him, gently. "Pepper and David and I."  
  
Davy lifts his head from Bruce's shoulder and grabs a handful of Bruce's hair and says, "Papa."  
  
 _You're the genius_ , she said. Yes, he is, and the pieces have fallen into place. He didn't step up to the plate for her, and she has found someone who will. He and Bruce hug each other for a long moment while Davy wriggles in protest, and when they part there are tears in the eyes of both men.  
  
"Stay in touch," Tony says. "I mean it. Tell Pepper I said, great job."  
  
"I will," says Bruce. "I promise."  
  
Tony's still not sure he'll ever be daddy material. He hopes someday to be a decent uncle.


End file.
